January 09, 2008

Furnace Maintenance for Readers--Brilliant!

I was reading my Winter 2008 Perspective: News and Insight from PEMCO Insurance, when I came upon another excellent example of writing that makes life easy for the reader.

"How to Maintain Your Furnace" was the column I was reading. (Yes, I know how to have a good time!) At the bottom of the piece, this notice appeared:

Use the back of this sheet to record furnace filter changes, then tape it near your furnace.

I turned over the sheet and found a perforated column headed "FURNACE MAINTENANCE LOG." Above the heading was a small notice: "Post Near Your Furnace for Easy Reference." There were fill-in-the-blanks for the type of filter, the furnace technician's name and phone number, and filter changes from 2008 to 2011 (with a short, lined column for each year). The lines implied that we ought to be changing our furnace filter a bit more often than we do now.

This brilliant user-friendly log is exactly what people need to keep track of their furnace maintenance--near the furnace. When we change a filter, we can just jot down the date.

The PEMCO logo, which includes the company name, appears in the bottom-right corner of the maintenance log. How better to remind me of PEMCO's interest in preserving my home?

Hi...
Thanks for the very nice mention in your blog. What a nice surprise. My name is Rod Brooks and I'm the CMO at PEMCO Insurance. We've been working hard to make Perspective as relevant and timely for our customers and readers as possible. Looks like we hit the mark for you with this one. Jon Osterberg has been PEMCO's corporate communication manager for nearly 25 years. It's his diligence and understanding of customer needs that makes the difference. Thanks again for the mention in your blog, but more importantly, for being a PEMCO customer. All the best.